The present invention relates to a disk reproducing apparatus having an auto-changer storing a plurality of optical disks and reproducing information recorded on the optical disks, and more particularly relates to a disk reproducing apparatus having an auto-changer capable of reproducing information recorded on both sides of a disk.
A disk reproducing apparatus having an auto-changer storing a plurality of optical disks and reproducing information recorded on the optical disks is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open 4-341968. Further, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/567,768, filed Dec. 5, 1995, titled "Disk Reproducing Apparatus having Auto-Changer", which has been applied for by the author of the present invention, discloses a disk reproducing apparatus having an auto-changer which comprises a storing unit for storing disks, a reproducing unit for reproducing information recorded on a disk mounted on the reproducing unit and a transferring unit for extracting a disk from the storing unit and transferring the disk by holding it using a disk loader to mount it on the reproducing unit, wherein the disk loader is designed in such a construction as to hold the disk extracted from the storing unit by moving it in a direction parallel to the disk surface and returning it to the storing unit by moving it in the opposite direction parallel to the disk surface after reproducing information in the reproducing unit. These disk reproducing apparatuses having an auto-changer are designed so as to deal with a disk having information recorded on one side.
On the other hand, as for a disk reproducing apparatus having an auto-changer for reproducing information recorded on both sides of a disk, each of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.5-89586 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.60-138767 discloses an apparatus which comprises two optical pickups for reproducing information recorded on both sides of a disk.
Further, each of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.3-91159 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.58-203669 discloses a mechanism for reversing an optical pickup corresponding to a surface on which information to be reproduced exists. Furthermore, a disk chucking means for a disk reproducing apparatus having an auto-changer is described in a specification of U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,098.
However, in the apparatus having two optical pickups described above, the constructions of the transferring mechanism and the reproducing mechanism become complex and accordingly its cost is increased. On the other hand, the apparatus reversing a disk or the optical pickup for reproducing information recorded on both side surfaces of the disk has disadvantages in that the apparatus becomes large in size since the construction for reversing the disk or the optical pickup becomes complex and a space for reversing it is additionally required.